Lost & Found
by Frek
Summary: A new arrival on the Saratoga, causes some serious trouble. Chapter 6 Up NOW!!!!
1. Found

Disclaimer: I don't own The Characters of S:AAB, the invitro boy however, if of my own creation.

Rating: It's PG basically for some bad language and some bad grammar :)

Summary: A new arrival on the Saratoga, brings some big trouble.

Author Note: This is a story in progress. I'm not sure when I'll have time to work on it, so bear with me people. Also any suggestions welcome.  
Lost And Found

He woke to the sound of liquid draining out of his tank. A small boy stepped out of the tank in which he had grown, and looked around. All around the large room were hundreds of tanks like his. The boy walked around the room, looking at the others still in their tanks. Pressing his hand to the glass of another tank, the boy looked around thinking about things he knew he shouldn't know yet. The boy's mind was bursting with information, causing him much confusion and wonder.

Suddenly, the boy felt a stab of fear. Knowing only that danger was near the boy frantically looked for an escape. Spying a low circulation vent, the boy quickly slipped his small naked frame into the ventilation shaft. Not bothering to stick around to see what the danger could be, he silently crawled through the vent. After a good deal of crawling the boy found the vent leading into the docking bay. Though only hours old, his mind was programmed with so much knowledge, the boy knew exactly where he was going to get away.

Slipping silently from the shaft, the boy moved as close to the nearest open space vehicle as he could without being noticed. The flight deck crew was busy fighting with some pilots about how to handle the cargo. As soon as the chance arrived, the boy darted out from behind the stacked crates he was hiding behind and slipped inside the transport vessel. Once inside the ISSCV, the boy found himself climbing into a panel in the floor. Soon the sound of boots could be heard above the boy, and for all his fears, the ISSCV launched without incident and he promptly fell into an exhausted slumber.

The next thing the boy knew, the ISSCV gave a sharp lurch as it docked inside its destination, the USS Saratoga. Coming instantly from his slumber, as instinct dictated, the boy turned curious eyes to the floor above him. The crew moved about unloading cargo and finally exited the ship for some R&R. Cautiously the boy lifted the grate in the floor and climbed out of his hiding place. Unfortunately, the sound of approaching footsteps caused the boy to hastily retreat back into the small space, slicing his right thigh badly. Ignoring the pain, the boy focused on the footsteps, which came and went in a matter of moments. Waiting longer this time before exiting the crawl space, the boy pulled himself up, being mindful of his wounded leg.

Exiting the ISSCV quickly, the boy darted for a stack of cargo boxes. Once behind the boxes, he looked up and saw a ventilation shaft above him. Waiting a few hours, until the room cleared, the boy climbed the boxes. Pushing up on the vent cover, the boy pulled himself into the shaft. The boy crawled through the shaft for a few hours before finding a completely darkened room, a closet. Slipping from the vent, he landed with a thud, and proceeded to find a small corner and sleep off his exhaustion.

Three Days Later

Cooper was jogging through the Saratoga, enjoying his free time. For the past two weeks the Wildcards had flown a mission a day, sometimes more. Now, though, they had at least three free days, and he was ready to have some fun. Suddenly, a small crash coming from a normally unused storage closet caught Cooper's attention. Carefully approaching the closet Cooper listened for further disturbances. Hearing a small grunt, Cooper finally opened the door, revealing stacks of boxes and cleaning equipment. Cooper flipped on the light switch and went in for a closer look. Frowning, Cooper poked around until his breath caught at the sight before him; a very small boy was looking fearfully at Cooper from the corner by a vent.

"Oh wow! Take it easy kid, I don't wanna hurt you." Inching closer to the naked toddler Cooper noticed the child's leg was injured and obviously infected. "Alright kid, I'm just gonna pick you up now, get you some help for that leg. Just stay calm," Cooper said soothingly, reaching for the child. The boy watched Cooper suspiciously but made no move as Cooper gently lifted him from the floor.

"Man, you're so tiny! How'd you get here?" asked Cooper wonderingly. The boy shivered and Cooper gently tucked him into the front of his jumpsuit, and hurried off to the Infirmary. After a few minutes Cooper arrived at the infirmary, seeking out the head doc.

"Hey Coop," greeted Dr. Sims. "What can I do for-Oh my god!" doctor Sims gasped as Cooper extracted the small child from his jumpsuit. Doctor Sims quickly pulled the boy from Cooper's arms and rushed over to the nearest examination table. "Jess! Get me a blanket and some antibiotics," Doctor Sims yelled for her nurse. All the while the boy was sitting silently, watching. He was watching the scene around him as well as Cooper. Tending to the boy's leg wound Dr. Sims asked Cooper, "Where did you find him Coop?"

"In a maintenance closet, sitting next to a vent on the floor."

"How the hell did he get on the Saratoga?" the doctor wondered aloud.

Still the boy watched and made no noise or movements, save for looking around the room. Cooper stayed and watched as tests were run and things were done to the toddler. Eventually Commodore Ross and Colonel McQueen entered the infirmary. The boy turned to look at them and Cooper's eyes bugged out. On the back of the boy's neck was a navel, he was an invitro and nobody had noticed yet.

"Uh, hey doc, you might want to see this," said Coop as he brushed the hair off the back of the boy's neck, revealing the navel that marked him as an invitro.

"Well, that explains why he hasn't said anything, but not how he got here." It was evident by her sigh that this turn of events had unearthed more questions than it had answered.

"What the hell is going on?" asked an angry and confused Ross.

"Hawkes?" McQueen asked while looking at the boy.

"I don't know sir, I just found him in the maintenance closet on deck 12 when I was jogging this morning."

"What's his status?" Ross asked.

"Well, the wound on his leg is pretty serious, but he doesn't seem too troubled by it. Otherwise, he seems to be perfectly healthy, except for some dehydration and malnutrition, which suggests he was in that closet for at least a couple of days. But, I've been pumping fluids into him since he got here. So far the only thing we've been able to find out to explain anything is this," with that said she gently turned the boys head and lifted his hair, showing the navel on his neck.

McQueen was momentarily stunned, invitros were never born until they're bodies were fully developed adults.

"I want an explanation for all of this and I want it now," Ross said as he eyed the boy and walked from the room with purpose.

End Part 1


	2. Escape

"I wonder were Coop is, I haven't seen him since this morning."

The 58th squadron was hanging out in the rec. room. "He's probably off jogging again, that guy can't sit still for more than three minutes! He's almost as bad as my six year old nephew," Wang commented as he triumphantly laid down another winning hand in poker, causing Damphousse, Vansen, and West to groan.

"Man, how'd you get so lucky?" said a disgruntled West.

"Coop can't help himself, besides at least he doesn't have to be practically thrown out of bed in the morning," Damphousse laughed while looking pointedly at Wang.

"Hey, I'm not that bad, at least I don't snore," which only added to the laughter as Wang made a face at West.

"Oh, don't even go there Wang. At least I don't . . . "

"Alright you guys, knock it off," Shane rolled her eyes at the rest of the squad, cutting off Nathan's retort.

Later that night a tired and frustrated Cooper entered the Wildcard's barracks. Not much else had been able to be discovered about the boy, and everyone was confused. The doc had slipped the kid some sedatives to make him sleep, because it didn't appear that he would be sleeping any time soon. Running a hand through his short hair Cooper sat down on his bunk.

"Hey Coop, where ya been?" Vanessa asked as the 58th returned to the barracks.

After considering whether this might not be something he should talk about Cooper broke down and told the rest of the Wildcards what had happened.

"This can't be good," Wang said ominously.

"How is the kid?" Shane asked.

"He's okay, I think. The doc said that he must've been in that closet for a couple days by the way he looked. I think he's been crawling through the vents, how else could he get that big cut on his leg?"

Coop was answered by some thoughtful affirmatives.

"Look, we can't spend all night gossiping about this. Soon enough they'll find out where the kid came from, how he got here, and everything else. So for now I suggest that we get some shut-eye while we can. You never know what will happen tomorrow."

After Shane's dismissing comments, everyone soon bedded down for the night, except for Cooper. All Cooper could think about was the little boy in the infirmary.

I can't believe that kid's an Invitro. Where could he have possibly come from? They're supposed to have stopped making tanks like me. I bet he's scared to death; I was when I was 'born'. I wish I could help him

It was with that thought that Cooper finally threw of his blanket, pulled on his pants and boots, and headed down to the infirmary.

The boy woke to the sounds of the nearly empty infirmary. How long thought the boy. He tried to sit up, and found he was restrained to the bed. Must escape, skillfully manipulating his wrists the boy had freed one arm by the time Cooper walked in the room. Eyeing Cooper warily, the boy continued to free his other arm and feet. Hawkes made no move to stop him, but it was plain from his expression, that he wouldn't let the boy go, not without a fight anyway. After a few minutes of trying to come up with a way to get past Cooper, the boy finally gave up and fell back on the bed.

"Don't feel bad, you wouldn't have got far anyway," Cooper said apologetically.

Coop fell into the chair next to the bed and heaved a sign. This is gonna be a long night he thought.

"I think we gotta have a talk kid. I know you're scared and runnin' on instinct here, but ya gotta trust me on this, no matter what happens, you're safe here."

The boy considered Cooper for a minute, and then making up his mind, flopped back down on the infirmary bed.

"Well, it's a start, I guess." Again the boy said nothing, and simply watched Coop suspiciously. Soon though, his small size, damaged body, and residual effects of the sedative the doctor gave him early combined, and the boy curled up in a ball and drifted asleep. And after watching the boy sleep for a while, Cooper rested his head on his hand, his elbow on the bed, and promptly started to softly snore.

End Part 2


	3. A Name

The boy lay there on the bed in the same position, deciding if he was good enough to get away without waking up Hawkes. Experimentally, he moved silently to lie flat on his back. Coop looked up groggily, and seeing that the boy was still there, promptly dropped back into slumber. He's good, far better trained than I imagined. Looks like I'm gonna stick around to see where this goes.

For a few hours the infirmary was pretty quiet, only the occasional accidental injury came in, but then around 5am things changed. All of the sudden the medical staff got all in a rush and they looked terribly frightened. Five minutes later, the boy found out why they were so upset. The doors of the infirmary opened and then the room was filled with the sounds of shouted orders, the groans of injured soldiers, and the stench of blood and antiseptic. Cooper woke, and a mournful look came on his face before he promptly stood up and picked the boy up.

"Let's get out of here for a while, nobody wants to see that."

Writing a quick note to the doctor, Coop took the boy and left the horrors of the infirmary behind them. Not sure where he could take the little one, Cooper finally decided on taking him back to the 58th's barracks. Still, the boy hadn't said anything, but in the unfamiliar territory of the Saratoga he just hung on to Coop. When they reached the barracks, Cooper paused a minute to look the boy in the eyes. The fear was gone from his eyes, but it was obvious that he wasn't going to let Cooper out of his sight. Inside, the 58th were still asleep, enjoying the last day of their leave. Silently slipping into the room, Coop settled down on his own bunk with the boy sitting in his lap. Looking about curiously, the boy looked back up at Hawkes with a questioning look.

"The Wildcard's, 58th squadron," Coop explained softly, with the hint of a smile on his lips. At Coop's expression, the boy became even more confused. "In a way, they're my family, with them, I belong." Though he was trying to speak quietly, Cooper's deep voice wakened a few of his sleeping comrades.

"Who are you talking to Coop?" Shane asked from the other side of the room, as she was dismounting her upper bunk. "Ah, I take it this is the new arrival."

"Yeah," answered Coop as watched the boy shrink closer to him when Shane drew near.

"Hmm, if he's scared of me, what's he gonna do when Paul wakes up?"

"I heard that Vansen!" Paul announced from his bunk.

"Well, now that we're all awake," Nathan said sitting up on the upper bunk across from Coop.

It was plain that this was definitely freaking the boy out. The openness of the Infirmary was easy to deal with people, he could always flee, if need be. The small barracks was a different matter. "Settle down, they're not gonna hurt ya," Coop said soothingly. His answer was a glare from the boy.

"Ha ha, you've got a real way with kids Coop," Paul snickered. Paul's answer was a glare from every one, and a pillow thrown at his head, courtesy of Vanessa.

"You got a name, short-stuff?" Shane asked.

The boy considered Shane for a moment, the looked back up at Cooper.

"I don't think so, he can't be more than a few days old, " Hawkes answered for him.

"Then we're gonna have to fix that, aren't we guys," Vanessa, who was now sitting up on her bunk across from Coops, smiled.

"Any ideas guys?" Cooper smirked, very amused at the boy's discomfort.

"How about Jake?"

"No, something more exciting"

"Sam?"

"Are you kidding me? That sounds like the name of some educational vid star!" Vanessa scoffed.

"That happens to be my little nephew's name, thank you," Wang shot back indignantly, causing a round of laughter.

After a few minutes of debating over names Coop looked down at the boy and decided. "Ender," Cooper said softly.

"Where'd you hear that name Coop?" Shane asked, looking puzzled.

"I read it in a book," he mumbled.

Looking down at the boy to gauge his reaction, Hawkes was pleased to see that the boy was almost actually smiling. "Cool," Cooper grinned.

"Well, little Ender, welcome to the 58th," Shane said.

After a few minutes everyone started yawning again and Shane went back to her bunk and Ender soon curled up in Cooper's lap, leaving the barracks silent.

End Part 3

The book mentioned in the story is my all time favorite novel, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card I highly recommend it to everyone!


	4. Frayed Nerves

The morning came in the 58th squadron's barracks. Everyone was awake now and cleaning up. Coop was making up his bunk and Ender was standing close by, unwilling to let Cooper out of his sight. As he stood there in nothing but the jury-rigged hospital gown and shorts, which were more like pants, Ender shivered uncontrollably.

"Here," Coop said as he searched through his footlocker and finally produced a sweatshirt which he pulled over Ender's head. When he looked down at Ender, Cooper couldn't help but chuckle, the sweatshirt nearly came down to the floor on him. Ender simply glared at Cooper and shifted his weight, minding his wounded thigh. Finishing up with his bunk, Cooper sighed and sat down to pull on his boots.

A knocking at the door commanded everyone's attention just as Cooper finished with his boots. A moment later the door of the barracks swung open to reveal Colonel McQueen. Everyone quickly snapped to attention in the presence of their commanding officer, Ender just stayed where he had been sitting on Cooper's bunk, glaring at McQueen.

"As you were," McQueen commanded. "Hawkes, why is the boy here, and not in the infirmary, like he's supposed to be?"

Cooper swallowed, "Well, sir, around 4am a big load of wounded came into the infirmary, and I didn't think the kid needed to be seein' that kinda stuff. He'd probably be more scared than he is already, sir." Cooper stood there, prepared to be berated for disobeying, but it didn't come.

McQueen studied Cooper for a moment, then decided better of yelling at the man. "The Doc wants to see the boy."

"Ender, sir, his name is Ender," Shane added quietly.

McQueen simply raised his brows for a second before leading the way to the infirmary. The walk to the lower deck was short and quiet. As they were descending the last stairway to the medical deck though, Ender felt a sharp pain, as the nearly healed wound in his thigh was ripped open again when Cooper jarred him. Still, Ender said nothing as the blood gushed from his leg, soaking his bandage. Finally, they entered medical and Cooper sat Ender down on an exam table in the back. Unfortunately, Cooper sat him down, on his injured side, sending white-hot bolts of pain through his leg. Ender even winced a little.

"What's wrong?" Cooper asked with concern. In answer, Ender rolled over on his other side and pulled the fabric up from his leg and revealed the bloody bandages. Of course, the doctor walked in at that exact moment and started swearing under her breath.

"What happened?" Simms asked, sounding none too pleased. Unbandaging Ender's leg only served to anger Simms even more. "All of his stitches are ripped!"

Heaving an angry sigh, Doctor Simms left the room and came back a few minutes later with some medical supplies. After she cleaned up the blood and used some disinfectant, Dr. Simms brandished a needle and some plastic stitching. Without even thinking twice, the doctor began to sink the needle into Ender's leg. Though he barely even changed his expression, Cooper, and even McQueen, could tell that Ender was in a world of hurt.

"Doctor, I think that you need to give this boy something to numb the pain before you do something like that. He may not be able to tell you that he feels pain, but he is human," McQueen stated coldly.

"Oh God! I'm sorry," Dr. Simms said when she was snapped out of her anger and frustration by the Colonel's harsh words. "I'm so sorry, I just have been unraveling lately, I'm such a bitch. Here," she said as she put a shot of local anesthetic into Ender's leg. "The damn bureaucrats have once again cut the budget for medical supplies and staff, in favor of more guns and bullets. I'm working with not enough bandages, nurses, and more than enough wounded. And, on top of that, I've been on this shift for 36 hours straight," Dr. Simms blurted out as she tested to see if Ender's leg was numb yet. "Feel anything?" When Ender shook his head a little, Simms began to gently sew the wound closed again. "I can't believe that I'm even using stitches for this, if we had some of the latest technology I could probably just heal this in a few minutes. Of course most of that is patented by Aerotech, which means that I'll never get my hands on it. The way they price that kind of technology, the people that really need it the most can't get their hands on it either. Then add the fact that, excuse me for speaking so frankly sir," Simms said, looking toward McQueen, "the military big-wigs and cheaper than my crazy uncle Joshua, who thinks the leprechauns are out to steal all his money." By the end of the doctor's exhausted tirade, she had finished stitching up and bandaging Ender's leg. After checking his vitals and a few other things Simms said, "Look, I'm really sorry about that, I honestly didn't know what I was doing. Think you can forgive me kid?"

"His name is Ender," McQueen said, "and he doesn't seem the type to hold a grudge."

Giving him a grateful smile, Simms told them that they were done there.

"Doctor, go get some rest, that's an order. You're no help to anybody like this," McQueen said as he led Cooper and Ender out of the infirmary.

It took only a few minutes to reach their destination, a conference room. Commodore Ross greeted them at the door and explained that they were having a very confidential meeting of the higher-ups that were trying to figure out what to do about Ender. They all sat down, Ender in Cooper's lap, and the view screens turned on revealing a few fat generals and a very suspicious looking man, who didn't introduce himself.

"What exactly are we dealing with here Ross?" one of the fat generals, Gen. Holton, asked as he eyed Ender.

"We're still not sure, sir. The boy has yet to speak, and we've come up with nothing, through the grapevine," Ross answered truthfully.

"Colonel McQueen, what are you thoughts on this?" another of the generals, Gen. Bender, inquired.

"Sir, I believe that this is not a good situation. This boy has an extreme intelligence and it appears that he is also been genetically altered to heal with incredible speed. I think someone's building an army, for what I don't know, but they've got to have an incredible cover if no one's caught even a rumor. I think this boy is our best chance of finding out what's going on, and putting a stop to it."

After 20 more minutes of discussion, mostly the generals arguing among themselves, the unnamed man spoke. "You will have one week, If the boy doesn't speak, we will find a way to make him talk," and with that, the meeting ended.

"Alright, I want answers. You've got one week, Ty. And this boy will not interfere with the normal operations of this ship, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," answered Cooper and McQueen.

End part 4


	5. First Words

After Coop had been dismissed he wasn't sure what to do with Ender.

"It's still your day off Hawkes, you might as well enjoy it," McQueen interrupted his thoughts.

Nodding slightly, Coop went off in search of the rest of the 58th. After checking the barracks, Cooper and Ender found themselves in the Saratoga's recreation room. Inside the rec. room were various soldiers playing games and such, as well as the Wildcards who were all sitting down watching an old movie on the vid screen.

"Hey Coop, take a seat. Paul is trying to, what did he say, 'Give us some culture'." Vanessa said as she noticed Hawkes and the little boy approach.

With a shrug Cooper sat down on the floor in front of the couch where Shane, Nathan, Paul, and Vanessa sat. After watching for a few minutes of watching a bunch of ridiculously dressed people running around saying even more ridiculous things, Coop finally turned around and asked Paul, "What is this?"

"The title of it is _Spaceballs_; it's a spoof off this movie that was really big back in the late 20th century, _Star Wars_."

Not wanting to make Paul mad by asking more questions about a movie he obviously liked, Cooper sat back and watched as a bunch of guys were dragging giant combs through a desert. Ender looked up at him, confusion written all over his face. All Cooper could do was shake his head and shrug; all the while Paul was behind them laughing hysterically every 5 minutes.

About an hour later, Cooper had long ago given up trying to understand the movie, and was concentrating on the boy in his lap. Ender had fallen to sleep a little while ago, the boy slept a lot. After all the time he spent thinking about Ender's plight, Cooper had come up with no new answers. He had to get the boy to speak, and more than that, Cooper needed to get him to remember his first few days of life. Invitros generally had very good memories, after all they needed to be able to remember complex orders given in battle, but not very often did they want to remember that far back. Cooper could vividly remember his birth and the following time he spent in that damn training center. He could remember how scared and confused he was when he first emerged from his tank. He knew nothing; he was an infant in a big body. Ender was different though. He may not know how things work exactly, but he could understand what's going on and how it affected him for the most part. Cooper knew that Ender could speak, he could see it in his eyes, and he just didn't know what was stopping him from doing so. Though, in truth, Cooper was scared to just ask him, and risk driving the boy away from him.

Soon the movie ended, and it was obvious that nobody but Paul had truly appreciated the humor of it. Cooper had been still and quiet for 4 hours so far that day, and he was getting fidgety. Shane looked down at Coop and laughed.

"Give him here Coop, you're gonna wake him up," Shane chuckled.

Looking up to see if Shane meant it, Cooper reluctantly gathered Ender in his arms, stood, and gently transferred him into Shane's waiting arms. Cooper was hoping he hadn't woken the boy, but Ender knew that Cooper wasn't holding him anymore. Ender woke long enough to get a promise that Cooper was going to come back, and then warily sunk back into Shane's arms to sleep some more. With a grateful smile, Cooper left to go for a run, and work off some of his hyper energy.

Ender slept for a while, and Shane flipped through the Vid channels, but soon both tired of their activities. Ender sat up as the Vid landed on a news station, which was giving the latest publicized war efforts. Ender watched the Vid with interest, and when the report was finished, looked up at Shane with confusion.

"Heh, that's right, you don't even know about this war do you?" Shane answered Ender's silent questions. "Well, you might as well know what's going on around here." Shane picked up Ender and headed over to one of the computer consuls used for accessing the media archives. Settling down with Ender in her lap, Shane showed him how to operate the computer, and soon the boy was devouring every piece of information he could.

Half an hour later, Ender and Shane were still seated at the consul when Cooper came back from his run.

"Hey Coop, he's been waiting for you," Shane greeted Cooper and looked down at the small boy in her lap. Ender looked up curiously from the screen at a still sweating Coop. When Coop came up to see what Ender had been looking at, Ender looked up at him and wrinkled his nose.

Shane laughed, "I think you need to hit the showers Coop, you're gonna stink everyone out of here."

Coop could only grin sheepishly and nod. "I'll be back in a few," Coop assured Ender, and then left to clean up.

After Coop left Ender looked back up at the screen. He was reading an article titled, "War Casualties Hit Home." The article described several families that had lost their children in the war. This article got to Ender, and he starting thinking very unpleasant thoughts. This ship is on the front lines of this war. These people, that have taken me in and been so kind to me, they could die just as easily as the soldiers in these articles. Cooper could die tomorrow, and I'd be alone again. The thought was very sobering, and the more Ender thought about it, the more it seemed to disturb him. By the time Cooper came back, Ender was scared out of his mind. There were too many emotions flowing through Ender for his own liking. He knew what each one of them was: fear, pain, loneliness, anger, but he had no idea how to deal with these emotions, so fresh and new to him.

Cooper, seeing the odd expression on Ender's face, approached with caution. Shane greeted Coop, and happily ended the babysitter duty. "Not that I mind Coop, but I've been dying for a hand of poker," Shane had explained with a laugh as she handed the small boy over to Cooper. Shane walked off to the Tun to go play poker, and Coop carried young Ender to the couch in the near empty Rec. room.

"Hey, what's wrong," Coop's voice was laden with concern. Ender only curled up in Cooper's lap and fell into an agitated sleep. The rest of the day, Ender remained in an odd, agitated mood, but still maintained his silence. Finally, as the day wound to a close and the 58th were bunking down, preparing for their shift of duty the next day, Cooper watched as Ender looked around the barracks warily, and then finally buried himself in Coop's arms.

A few hours later, the barracks was quiet, and Ender had awakened. His sleep had been uneasy, and the images of the dead soldiers from the picture kept flashing in his mind. For a while, he laid still, not wanting to wake Cooper, or anyone else. Soon, though, Ender could be still no longer and silently removed himself from the bed. After walking around the barracks, reassuring himself that his friends were all still alive, Ender left the room. The corridors were fairly empty at this time of night, so there was no one to notice the tiny boy walking aimlessly. For a half hour, Ender wandered through the Saratoga, trying to sort out all of the new and powerful emotions that were now affecting him. Ender could recognize his frustration at having all this knowledge, but being so confused. Unfortunately, this was one of the only emotions that he could make any sense of. Ender finally ended up in the observation room next to the flight deck. He watched, fascinated, as the flight crew interacted with each other while performing repairs on the Hammerheads.

Cooper had wakened soon after Ender had restlessly left his arms; already he had become accustomed to the small body cuddled next to him at night. Dragging himself from the bed, Cooper pulled on his pants and boots to go look for the boy. Okay, all I have to do is think how I would have acted when I was a "baby" Wandering around the corridors, Coop thought about his first few days of life, the vids, the monitors; all of it still gave him anxiety. After a few minutes of groggily walking around, Coop spotted the hatch to the observation room and knew that was where Ender had escaped. Opening the hatch and stepping inside, Cooper immediately saw him sitting in a chair, watching the flight deck. Coop was definitely feeling awkward and nervous, and still had no idea what he was gonna do about this latest development, so he simply took a seat in the chair next to Ender. For a few long minutes, neither said anything.

"I'm scared," Ender broke the silence.

"Of what?" Cooper knew that Ender couldn't keep his silence forever, so he was only partially shocked to hear him speak.

"Of these emotions that I don't understand." Ender looked up at Cooper, his face a mixture of anger and sadness.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm the one you should be talkin' to if you wanna know about that kind of stuff, but I'll give it a shot kid."

-end part 4-


	6. Back to the Grind

After their short, but meaningful conversation, Cooper gathered Ender in his arms and headed back to their barracks.

"Cooper," Ender whispered into the older Invitro's ear.

"Hmm?"

"I don't want you to leave me."

At this, Cooper stopped dead in the corridor. Pulling Ender away from his chest, Cooper looked into the intelligent eyes of his little charge.

"I'm not going anywhere."

But as he watched Ender's expression, Cooper knew that this boy couldn't be swayed by simple words. Heaving a frustrated sigh Hawkes started walking again.

When the two Invitros got back to the Wildcard's barracks, Ender had finally fallen asleep on Cooper's shoulder. Carefully Cooper settled them both onto his bunk, and before Cooper could think about how tired he had suddenly become, he was snoring softly himself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning came early to the 58th squadron and found its members preparing for a shift of sentry duty, patrolling the defense lines of the Earth Forces.

"Man, what I wouldn't give for another hour of sleep," Paul moaned on his way to the shower.

"Come on Paul, there's still a war to be won you know," Vanessa scolded as she stretched out her lower back.

"Shhhh," Cooper said softly as he pulled on his boots. "Ender's still asleep."

"You're kidding right?" Shane looked down at Cooper's bunk, and sure enough the lump under the blanket seemed to be sound asleep. "I thought he woke up at the drop of a hat." Cooper's only answer was to shrug. "Cooper you need to take him down to Medical or something, he can't just stay here while we're gone." At Cooper's confused look, Shane continued, "If he wakes up and nobody's here, the kid is gonna freak."

"Yeah, I guess you're right Shane, but I don't want to leave him in Medical, he hates that place."

"Him and everybody else Coop, why don't you ask the Colonel if he'll keep Ender?"

He looked skeptical, but Cooper nodded anyway. Shane gave the young man a reassuring smile as he left the barracks in search of their commanding officer, and the one person that Cooper alternately admired and feared.

It didn't take long for Cooper to find Colonel McQueen; the older man was actually still in his cabin on the deck above the Wildcard's barracks. Knocking tentatively, Cooper was surprised when the door quickly swung open, revealing the imposing figure that was T. C. McQueen.

Frozen like a deer in headlights, Cooper stood there staring at McQueen until the older man spoke up.

"Something I can do for you Hawkes?"

"Uh, well sir I was kinda wondering if you could do me kinda a personal favor while we're gone today." Cooper watched for a reaction, but seeing none he continued. "I don't want to leave Ender in Medical, he's scared of the place and I don't know what else to do with him, so I was wonderin' if maybe you could watch out for him while we're on sentry duty."

McQueen simply stared at the young man before him for several long tense moments. "You want me to baby-sit Hawkes, is that what you're asking me?" Cooper visibly shrank at the incredulous and superior tone in the Colonel's voice. Pausing a moment more for effect, McQueen continued. "Well why didn't you just say so, I'll get Ender from the barracks in a minute. And, you better hurry Cooper, if you don't get moving you're never going to make it to the briefing on time," McQueen finished with a slight grin noting Cooper's disheveled appearance. Cooper's face lit up like a child's when the realization finally dawned on him that McQueen was glad to help with Ender; he hastily saluted and said a quick "thanks!" before he started off down the corridor at a run. Colonel McQueen snorted and shook his head; Cooper could always be counted on to be either the most difficult or the most endearing one of his "kids."

After McQueen finished in his cabin he closed the hatch and headed down to the 58th's barracks. Arriving at the door bearing the insignia of the Wildcard's McQueen played through a few scenarios of what might be on the other side of the hatch, but nothing prepared him for what he saw. Ender sat on Cooper's bunk wrapped in the standard issue brown blanket, his whole posture reeked of defeat and sorrow and upon closer inspection, the tiny invitro was quietly crying. Frowning, McQueen took the few strides to Ender's side and kneeled down in front of him. The little boy looked up at McQueen, the red-rimmed eyes filled with sorrow and fear.

"Take it easy Ender," McQueen said soothingly as he moved slowly to sit next to the boy.

"Cooper left me, they all did," Ender sniffled.

"No, they had a mission to fly. Cooper left you with me; he was trying to help you out by not taking you to medical for the duration."

Ender studied the hard man sitting next to him. "You don't like me very much do you?"

Sighing, McQueen answered, "That's not important, come on, I've still got duties to attend to."

Drying his eyes, Ender dropped off the bunk and waited for McQueen to move.

"Here, let me see you leg."

Ender gingerly pulled up the fabric of the rigged pants, revealing the white gauze of the bandages. McQueen kneeled down once again and let out a short sigh when he discovered the bandages relatively saturated with blood.

"Looks like we're making a side trip to medical first."

McQueen ignored Ender's look of panic and scooped the boy up in one fluid motion. The walk to Medical was short, and even though he kept a swift, no nonsense pace, McQueen was careful not to jostle the child in his arms. When they arrived in the infirmary McQueen was a little surprised that it took some effort to dislodge Ender from his neck. This kid must be really terrified, McQueen thought.

Dr. Simms was back on duty, and she was definitely not happy to see that her patient had yet again ripped all of his stitches out. "Alright, this wound needs to be able to heal, so from now on, I don't want him walking on his own. Either you keep him immobile or you carry him, but either way if he rips open this wound again it's going to cause some serious tissue damage." McQueen nodded his agreement and as soon as Dr. Simms was finished patching Ender back up, he grabbed the boy and headed for the briefing room.

Because the briefing had already begun, McQueen quietly slipped in the room with Ender in tow. McQueen settled himself into a chair in the back of the room and set Ender in the chair next to his. Sergeant Andrews was explaining to the assembled squads where the current lines had been mapped out from the recent battles and information on where and how much enemy resistance could be lurking just outside these zones. McQueen was only half listening though; the other half of his attention was focused on his squad. As he expected Vansen and West were completely focused on the briefing, still as statues. On the other hand Wang appeared to be still fighting off sleep and Damphousse kept staring at her hands. Cooper was definitely not paying very much attention at all to the Sergeant at the front of the room; his leg was bouncing rapidly and he appeared to be tapping out a rhythm softly on the desk surface with his thumbs. McQueen snorted quietly, some things would never change.

The mission was only sentry duty so the briefing was over quickly, and when Sergeant Andrews dismissed the three assembled squads the pilots began to file out of the room. For his part, Ender seemed to be taking it well enough, though McQueen knew that he would rather it be Cooper that was presently carrying him around. Can't say I blame him, I never was very good with kids, besides Cooper's more like a kid than anything. McQueen smiled at this thought as his kids filed past him towards the launch deck, each one giving him a nod and Ender a pat and a smile. Cooper was the last in line, and he stopped in front of McQueen and Ender.

"Thanks again Colonel, and I'll be back," Cooper directed the last part of his statement at Ender, and with a serious expression Cooper went to catch up wit his mates.

"Looks like it's just you and me for a while kid," McQueen said looking down at Ender, who was still watching Cooper's retreating form.

-End Part 6-


End file.
